5.  The applicant was born in 1943 and lives in St Pölten.
6.  At the material time the applicant, who has retired in the meantime, was a practising lawyer. For many years he represented company H., which traded in cars. In 2001 insolvency proceedings were commenced before the St Pölten Regional Court (Landesgericht) in respect of company H.
7.  In these proceedings the applicant asserted claims totalling 2,453,283.23 euros (EUR). The liquidator only acknowledged claims in the amount of EUR 47,908.79 and refused to admit the remaining claim of EUR 2,405,374.44 to the insolvency proceedings. According to the Government, the liquidator acknowledged the applicant's claims insofar as they related to services rendered to the insolvent company H. He rejected the remainder of the applicant's claim as it related to services rendered to other entities within the group of companies.
8.  The applicant brought proceedings under section 110 of the Insolvency Act (Konkursordnung) before the St Pölten Regional Court, requesting a declaratory decision that he was entitled to claim EUR 2,405,374.44 from the company's assets. He estimated the amount in dispute (Streitwert), which serves as the basis for calculating court fees, lawyers' fees and other procedural costs, at EUR 36,000. Apparently this amount was what he expected to obtain as his quota in the insolvency proceedings. On the basis of this estimated amount in dispute, the applicant paid court fees of EUR 551.
9.  By decision of 15 October 2002 the St Pölten Regional Court, of its own motion, fixed the amount in dispute at EUR 2,405,374.44, holding that the claim was of a pecuniary nature and could not therefore be the subject of an estimate.
10.  The applicant appealed claiming, inter alia, that the fixing of the amount in dispute violated his right of access to a court. He argued that since the liquidator had contested his claim, he had no choice other than to request a declaratory decision under section 110 of the Insolvency Act in order to participate in the insolvency proceedings, in which he could at best hope to obtain a small percentage of the overall amount claimed. It was excessive to take the overall amount claimed as the amount in dispute, because the ensuing court fees would exceed the amount he could realistically expect to obtain. The contested decision therefore prevented him in practice from pursuing his claims.
11.  On 29 November 2002 the Vienna Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht) dismissed the applicant's appeal. It referred to its own established case-law and to the Supreme Court's case-law which confirmed the view that in proceedings under section 110 of the Insolvency Act the amount the claimant wished to assert in the insolvency proceedings had to be taken as the amount in dispute, without regard to the quota likely to be obtained.
12.  On 21 January 2004 the Supreme Court rejected the extraordinary appeal on points of law lodged by the applicant, without examining the merits.
13.  At some later stage the applicant and the liquidator agreed to suspend the proceedings, apparently in order to reach an out-of-court settlement. On 21 July 2009 the liquidator, noting that it had not been possible to resolve the matter, requested the St. Pölten Regional Court to resume the proceedings. A hearing took place on 15 February 2010. The proceedings are currently still pending.
14.  On 9 March 2004 the costs officer (Kostenbeamter) of the St Pölten Regional Court ordered the applicant to pay court fees of EUR 29,829.50 pursuant to section 32 of the Court fees act (see paragraph 22 below).
15.  Subsequently, the applicant filed an application for rectification. He claimed that EUR 36,000 and not EUR 2,405,374.44 should be taken as the basis for calculating the court fees. He repeated his argument that the request for a declaratory decision under section 110 of the Insolvency Act had been aimed solely at establishing whether he was entitled to participate in the insolvency proceedings, in which he could at best expect to obtain a small percentage of the overall amount claimed. The court had therefore wrongly found that the claim at issue was of a pecuniary nature and that the amount in dispute should be equal to the amount claimed.
16.  By decision of 10 May 2004 the President of the St Pölten Regional Court dismissed the applicant's request for rectification, stating that the costs officer was bound by the decision of 15 October 2002 which had fixed the amount in dispute.
17.  The applicant lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof), in which he repeated his allegation that the fixing of the amount in dispute and the ensuing costs order violated his right of access to a court.
18.  On 13 October 2004 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant's complaint for lack of prospects of success.
19.  On 17 March 2005 the Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) dismissed the applicant's complaint as being unfounded. It referred to its established case-law according to which, in proceedings concerning a pecuniary claim, the amount of the claim was to be taken as the amount in dispute. Consequently, there was no scope for an assessment of the amount in dispute by the claimant. The court noted that this case-law also applied to proceedings under section 110 of the Insolvency Act. Again referring to its established case-law, the Administrative Court confirmed that the costs officer and the President of the Regional Court were bound by the decision of 15 October 2002 which had fixed the amount in dispute.
20.  The decision was served on the applicant on 11 April 2005. The applicant paid the court fees in their entirety on 13 April 2005.